How not to communicate with your readers

I've been struck lately by two quite common practices that seem to me eminently useless in terms of their purported purpose of enabling writers (not porpoises) to get feedback on their print or internet efforts.

An example of the first is using a general email address such as food@washpost.com (above) for readers to respond to an article by an individual whose story appeared in the Washington Post's Food section.

This struck me on March 8 when I read a very interesting feature there by Greg Kitsock about Guinness Stout and stout beers in general.

I wanted to email Kitsock to tell him how much I enjoyed his story but the only way to do that was to email the Post at the address italicized above, which is the Food section's general delivery — as it were — in–box.

That's no good: Kitsock then has to rely on the Post's staff to take the time and trouble to forward the email to him.

He writes a monthly feature about beer for the paper and so I wouldn't expect the Post to keep his email forwarding at the top of their to–do list.

I can recall, after my first book was published back in the early 1990s, getting an occasional letter from a reader forwarded by my publisher: invariably it was postmarked months earlier.

Who knows how many never arrived at all?

That's why I made certain to put an email address with staying power on the back cover of my last book.

I would advise any writer who does want to receive feedback to make every effort to get it directly, without third–party interference.

Author Carolyn See, who does a weekly book review for the Washington Post, has it figured out: under her byline it says she can be reached at www.carolynsee.com.

The Financial Times also does it right, simply putting the columnist's name@ft.com at the end of their pieces.

The second DOA approach to feedback is using a form on the web that requires the writer to fill in boxes (below).

These are so brain–dead — as opposed to using a "contact" button that takes you right to email — that I am amazed everytime I see one, even thought they're quite common.

Ring ring, pick up the clue phone: no one wants to fill in your crummy boxes and follow instructions — they just want to get in touch.

Making people work to do something online is a prescription for failure.

Get over yourself and give us an email address, and while you're at it don't make us search your site for it: put it up top on the opening page.

Jeez.

It's not neurosurgical anesthesiology, girls and guys.